“The name was taken from the wing of a Nazi concentration camp where Jewish women were forced into sexual slavery. At a time when Jewish Australians are facing a rise in antisemitism, when families are asking for reassurance and unity, the prime minister chose to parade an image derived from hatred and suffering.
“This is not a slip of judgment, and he cannot claim ignorance. He was told about the dark origins of this band on a podcast in 2022. He even admitted that it is very dark. He knew, he understood, and still he wore the T-shirt.
“It raises questions about values, the wrong values, and it is a profound failure of judgment for the prime minister of this country in full knowledge of the meaning behind the name of this band.
Opposition Leader Sussan Ley during her 90-second statement before question time.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen
“To choose to wear this T-shirt is an insult to all, and it fails the basic tests of leadership. He should apologise immediately.”
Unknown Pleasures has been ranked among the best albums of all time by various music publications. Rolling Stone last year ranked the album cover as the greatest of all time.
Australian media outlets, including The Australian, initially reported on the shirt in a lighthearted manner, using it as fodder for puns.
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But debate about Albanese and the band name’s Nazi links developed on several right-wing accounts with tens of thousands of followers on X in the following days. On Sunday night, The Australian’s media diary column questioned the choice, and noted Albanese had been probed on his support for the band in a podcast interview from 2022.
When told about the origins of the band name in the podcast, Albanese responded: “I wish I didn’t [know that] … It’s very dark, isn’t it? But everything about the band is so dark … You should edit that [information] out of the podcast just for the sake of the listeners, so that they can continue to enjoy it.”
Jewish Liberal MP Julian Leeser said: “This is a serious error of judgment from the PM. It sends a terrible signal, and he should apologise.”
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry and the Zionist Federation of Australia declined to comment. Albanese is currently in Malaysia for the ASEAN summit. He declined to comment.
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